SPECIES Unknown: Fire From Ash
by Cloud Auditore Fair
Summary: Standalone, written with permission. No one knows what Bella is, not even Carlisle, but Rosalie knows one thing for sure. She's a nuisance. Now if only Bella would stop waking up in the damn woods and generally making Rosalie's life hard.
1. Unbecoming

**A/N:** Okay, sizable AN because we gotta get some stuff out the way, trust me.

You didn't have to read it and still don't (but it's a good read) because I'm writing this in a way it stands alone and goes in some wildly different directions, but did you read Species Unknown by xPaige Turnerx and want that good Rose/Bella shit? Because I did. And Paige approved. Here's what you need to know.

Starts after Bella's known the Cullens for a few months, during which it seemed possible for Bella and Alice to be mates. Bella's species is unknown, not even Carlisle knows what she is. She suffers crippling migraines and nosebleeds from hell. She's capable of essentially leeching characteristics, as seen in a fight with her brother, (they consider each other brothers, since it's a lifestyle lmao) Jake, in which she takes on qualities of a vampire and fights Jake while he's wolfed out. This event is canon for this story, and is why Buggy, Bella's old Camaro, is currently under repair with Rosalie. Another thing? Bella was dropped off on the Swans' doorstep at the age of six and her fucking eyes change colors with her emotions. Hence she always wears sunglasses because she's received a lot of shit for her eyes, including being locked in a shed overnight, and says it's because of her migraines. Leah is _different_ from the pack and also insists she and Bella are _connected._ Oh and Bella sleepwalks at night into the fucking forest and one time Jasper found her out there, she said that's where she fucking dies so thank Paige for that creepiness.

Okay, here goes nothing. *crosses fingers*

Esme and Carlisle. Rosalie and Emmett (not for long lmao). Jasper and Victoria. Edward. Alice. Wensley and Jessica.

* * *

"I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,  
In secret, between the shadow and the soul."  
-Pablo Neruda

A ragged sigh tore out of her and, leaning back from under the hood, she set down her wrench. Rather, slammed it. The small table had a dent in it now. Rosalie sighed again, softer this time. Tired. She was tired. Angry. But she was often those things.

Black eyes slid closed as she dropped the hood like these things alone could change her mood. Alice had spun into Bella Swan's life and pulled her into the Cullens', dropping her in the same way any Cullen had just settled in. And damn, she hadn't seemed so alive in decades and they whispered that maybe Bella and Alice were mates. But Jasper knew better. Rosalie knew better.

Instead of simply moving the table, she left her handprint in the metal.

Of course the whispers didn't last long at all. Alice and Bella were…close, but not that type of close. Rosalie suspected Alice would've pursued a fling with Bella if it wasn't for the fact Bella Swan fit into the mess of the Cullen household.

Really, there were too many of them at this point.

And in all of this, Rosalie still didn't know if Bella had slipped, developed feelings for Alice. It happened. Silly, stupid emotions because your friend was _great_ and you were close. Jasper would know because he didn't have to fret over the difficulty Bella presented when it came to gauging anything of her.

But Rosalie couldn't ask Jasper because that meant acknowledging his lingering gaze and Victoria's knowing smirk.

Because that was all Rosalie's…issues were. Silly, stupid emotions.

Why was she lying to herself?

Some words echoed in her mind, taunted her, and she growled at them. At herself.

She threw open the door in a way that almost made its hinges screech.

"Fuck!"

Rosalie stopped, sighing just as there was a thud behind her. She debated on whether or not to keep walking, but Rosalie Hale faced problems, she didn't run from them. And so she stood over Bella, prone in a little over a foot of snow. She couldn't see those mysterious eyes, but she still felt them.

"This is concrete."

"How astute of you."

Bella puffed out her cheeks and released a huff of air, clearly not knowing what to say next.

It was Rosalie's turn. Her move to make. Thus far, Bella had followed after her, had always been left in Rosalie's wake. Had always initiated even though she'd never been given a reason to. Yet, despite the fact Rosalie just changed the game by the small act of _turning around_ , she only raised her eyebrow.

"I'm dying." Bella's forced chuckle didn't erase the way her voice went up a few octaves in the last syllable.

"You've fallen from higher. What are you doing?"

"Failing at surprising you." Bella wiggled her arms for emphasis, clearing more snow in the process. "I didn't expect you to leave like that and I slipped a little."

Closing her eyes, Rosalie pinched the bridge of her nose as her eyebrows rose. She really was just so, so incredibly tired. "Bella, I could hear you the entire time."

"You. I." Something tore out her throat resembling a growl. "Fuck you! You just let me sit up there for two hours and didn't think to say shit? Seriously?"

"Excuse me? _I'm a vampire_. If you want to be a damned idiot, that's your business not mine. You do stupid things all the time. How am I supposed to tell the difference?"

She slammed her fists down into the snow. "You know the difference!"

"Don't act like I pay any attention to your existence." Rosalie almost winced.

Bella, however, didn't have such qualms. Indifference smoothed her face and she swallowed.

Rosalie watched her nod so slightly she almost missed it. Watched her close off while Rosalie wished she could throttle herself. Her tongue felt heavy with words she didn't know and probably wouldn't say even if she did know them. Walking away would be easy, expected. Routine. Especially with Bella already sitting up, already brushing the snow from herself. But Rosalie had resolved to face this and whatever happened as a result. It couldn't be worse than Victoria deciding to make a game of it. And she would do it soon. Rosalie could tell by the gleam in her eyes.

"Where did your misplaced desire to surprise me originate?" _Oh, yes, so natural. Good job, Rosalie. What a composed vampire you are._

A noncommittal shrug. "You've been a bit of a bitch lately. Past couple weeks."

"I'm always a bitch." Maybe one day she'd actually ask questions instead of being indirect, but apparently that wasn't today.

" _I know!_ " Bella threw herself back with a huff and a small cloud of snow.

So Rosalie was right. Bella had noticed her sharper moods and aimed to remedy that…somehow. "What exactly was your plan?" Black eyes darted to the roof of the garage and back down to Bella. "I leave, then you attack me, I'm guessing?"

" _Surprise_."

"And then we laugh? Watch a movie? Get dinner? Have a bonding moment?"

Bella stopped chewing her cheek. "Well, I figured—"

"How many times have you hit your head?" _How many times will I do this to myself?_

"Look," Bella snapped, "If you want, I can headbutt you. Would that make you feel better? Make more sense? Just stomp off already."

The words signaled the end of their game, if it could be called that. The end of someone's patience, the announcement of, _I'm too tired for this_. It left Rosalie clenching her jaw. She knew those damn eyes weren't on her and, she hated herself for it, but she wanted them to be.

But her sense of rejection was already swirling into anger, into bitter pain and the need to lash out. She'd tried to do this for Esme and Alice and Edward and the family itself and for _Emmett_ , but she'd slipped. People made mistakes. Rosalie was tired of them. Tired of mistakes, tired of guilt eating her alive, tired of being left wanting, tired of not being _enough_.

She swallowed back venom.

Rosalie Hale had faced worse than this. She could do this. She could be Bella's…friend. One day. Yet she couldn't relax her jaw. Couldn't silence the storm screaming in her muscles.

"I kind of want to stay here, so if you could just—"

Bella's jacket ripped in Rosalie's fingers as she dragged her backward through a few feet of snow and lifted her, flinging her through the air.

"— _Whatthefuck!_ "

Alice yelled her name like a curse, but she didn't twitch, didn't look away from Bella flailing her way across the frozen lawn. Edward would've beaten Alice to her, but Bella somehow righted herself and so three pairs of eyes watched her land on her feet and stumble a step.

Edward's gaze didn't compare to Bella's, even through her shades. Alice patted her down in some need to make sure she was okay, but she didn't say anything to reassure the small vampire. She studied Rosalie. It was piercing, as revealing as it was probing. Rosalie wanted nothing more than to remove those damn shades.

And in that moment she knew she couldn't settle on just being Bella Swan's friend.

Movement drew her eyes to Emmett emerging from the house, disappointment and resignation creating an intense frown on his face. He'd given up on her.

Good.

Rosalie tilted her head. "Emmett thinks I'm too mean to his dear Boo and should try being your friend. What do you think?"

Bella mirrored her, that same distant thoughtfulness on her face. "You are my friend."

Rosalie left in the space of an excited heartbeat.

* * *

 _Ethereal goddess from another realm._

In the dim gymnasium with stupid, colorful accent lights and music that was too loud, those words were all she could process. Over and over. She'd only heard them being blurted to Edward because she'd developed the horrific habit of, well, hanging onto Bella's every word. Maybe not every word, but ones that could possibly be about her.

Bella had been stiff and stuttering when Victoria first swept her away to the dancefloor, but after being hijacked half a dozen times, she looked happy. And like she could passably dance as opposed to stomp her feet around. She twirled Alice, the both of them grinning, and jealousy clawed at Rosalie's throat.

A large arm hovered around her waist. Asked for permission. The flash of black eyes had him wringing his hands. "I don't even know what to say to you."

"Nothing works just fine."

"You look like you wanna kill Boo."

Rosalie walked away. Her gait didn't pause as he wondered aloud if she even had a wedding ring anymore.

She sucked in the cold air as if it actually mattered instead of just ghosting in and out of her lungs. The moon was bright tonight and for a moment, she entertained that it was mocking her. She sat on a cold bench with a sigh and let her eyes cast around aimlessly at the snow and trees and a crack running along the entire length of this concreted area. At least they had the sense to clean up instead of just hoping students wouldn't come out here.

The door opened and she caught sight of a red vest in her peripherals. She fought back the urge to snarl at him. She wasn't in the mood to fight with someone. Again.

Wensley stopped just out of arm's reach. Stared down at her.

Her eyebrow twitched, but she didn't look at him. _At least I'm bitchy instead of annoying._

Minutes passed.

"You like her."

Rosalie turned a little to tilt her head at him. "Hmm? Did you say something?" The gold of his eyes sharpened and Rosalie's flew to black. She didn't feel inclined to starting a fight, but she would always finish one. "Well if you're going to bother me, be direct so you waste less of my time."

His back straightened. His way of flinching when it came to the ease he allowed into his posture around her. Wensley stuck out his chin as he focused on a tree. "I didn't think I would find myself thinking less of you, endangering what you sometimes call family."

"I thought you were mentally capable of understanding what 'direct' means."

A muscle in his cheek twitched. "Alice dragged this _mistake_ into our home and Esme all but adopted it in an instant. Things become increasingly complicated. It's not even Alice's mate? And you're simply _okay with this_?"

Rosalie stood, easily able to glare into his eyes between her natural height and the heels. "Are we talking about a thing or a person, I'm confused."

"A danger. We don't even know what that is. Something walking around in a human skin? We don't know, but we let it waltz around our home and no one speaks of changing it. If it can be changed."

She almost took the bait. Almost. Considered giving into it anyway. A lazy smirk slid onto her face and she watched a subtle frown pull down his eyebrows. When would people stop thinking they could play games with her? Rosalie shrugged a shoulder, waved her hand. "I will."

The frown grew more pronounced in his special way. Wensley's eyes darted across her face once, twice, before settling back on her black depths as he silently floundered. Then, "Why?"

"Elimination of a threat, no? That's all you care." She breached the small space between them to adjust his vest. "Isn't Jessica missing you?"

Wensley clenched his jaw so tightly cracks threatened his face. "You care."

"I protect my family."

His eyes fell to amber. "The vote we held was premature. The circumstances are different now."

"They are. In the way that Bella Swan is now family regardless of who likes it." A challenge. And if he wanted to answer it, well, he'd lose a lot more than she would on the grounds of Jessica alone.

His gaze cut away from her. Jumped back. "I won't stand for this."

"Then sit the fuck down."

"I don't understand," Wensley growled softly. "You detest her and you try to be remotely civil for Emmett and Esme and now you defend her?"

"She stays. It's that simple."

"Did I miss the application to be a Cullen somewhere down the line? You get to play gatekeeper? You alone decide—"

"I _am_ the damned gatekeeper!" She shoved him. It wasn't hostile. Just to get him out of her space, to signal the end of this. "Go back to your wife and leave me the hell alone."

But Wensley came back and whenever they inhaled, they could feel each other for how close they stood. He spat the words but it was more so due to his mood than anything else, "If you wanted to ruin your relationship with a plaything, couldn't you have chosen someone other than Bella Swan?"

The fight left Rosalie in a sigh as she sank back down to the bench. "Is Jessica your plaything?" She took his silence, too tired to take his expression as well. Still, she felt his air shift.

Again, the door opened, but this time it was Bella, taking slow steps. Her eyes hidden as always, face impassive. She stopped about five feet from them and didn't remark on how they weren't looking at each other. "Jessica's pouting."

Wensley's brusque stride had Bella in his path. But she just stood there, hands still in her pockets, even as he partially walked over her and made her stumble.

A noticeably brief rise in volume of the music indicated he was definitely rushing back to his mate.

Releasing a slow gust of air, Bella rocked back and forth on her feet. "So."

Rosalie didn't know where to go from there so she started where she could as she gazed at some dead trees. Commenting on the fact Bella's braid crown had disappeared seemed like a good way to annoy her. "I hope you're not lingering to get a rise out of me."

"Uh, no." Bella rubbed the back of her neck. "You look tired."

"I suppose I am. I'm out here to keep my bitchiness to myself. To let everyone in there have their happiness."

Bella sat to her right, on the far end of her bench. Smoothed her hands over her black jeans. Over and over, her gaze somewhere in front of her.

Rosalie eyed her straight back. "What?"

"Oh. I don't mind." With Rosalie studying her, she cleared her throat. Smoothed her hands across her jeans a little faster. "I don't like these damn things anyway."

"Yes, we noticed when coming nearly turned into an argument between you and Alice."

A small laugh, but she didn't say anything.

The silence began to settle in. Calm. Easy. Except Rosalie's emotions still swirled dangerously inside of her. Except something hovered in the air like a taut rope being mercilessly pulled on. And the question burning inside of her still wasn't satisfied. Half an answer presented itself that day she threw Bella, when Bella maybe looked at her for the first time.

But the question only started to scream when the image of the clear happiness on their faces as they danced flashed across Rosalie's eyes.

"Why do you harass me?"

"Because it's the only way to get a response from you. And that sounds really damn bad now that I say it aloud. I'm, well." Bella fiddled with her tie. "I'm," a cough, "I'm sorry. That's not a good behavior. And changing the contacts in your phone went way too far, sorry."

Eyebrows knit together, she turned a little, just enough that it looked like they were actually having a conversation. "Pushing you out of a moving vehicle isn't a good behavior. Nor is not even asking if you're okay when you fall from notable heights."

"Or throwing me like a football?"

Rosalie's shoulder bounced in a careless shrug. "Why do you go to such lengths to get a response from me?"

Those damn glasses. Bella's face was slack, but Rosalie wasn't even sure she was looking at her. Forget the color of her eyes. Did she absently look around when thinking of something to say? How often did she roll her eyes? Did she keep eye contact for tough topics or stare at the space around you?

Finally, Bella moved. She faced forward again, elbow braced on her knee. Pushed her shades into her hair and pinched the bridge of her nose. Eyes closed, of course.

And Rosalie knew she either didn't have an answer or didn't care to share. "I originally thought you were a lazy ass, but you're actually a rather determined person."

Bella hummed, bracing on her left knee now so she could prop her cheek up on her fist, face turned away from Rosalie.

Her breath got stuck inside of her as she stared at the shades still in Bella's hair. She wasn't showcasing her eyes, but she wasn't hiding them either, and Rosalie would've heard from an excited Alice or Edward if she'd done it before.

"If you're unhappy, you should talk to someone."

Rosalie's brow furrowed at both the shift in topic and her choice of words.

"Wait. It's cold." Bella flipped her shades back down and left. Blissfully unaware she had the vampire reeling, somewhere between a purr and a growl.

Bella had shared with her in a special way and Rosalie wondered if she realized it. She had to, didn't she? It must've been intentional, even if it was for all of two minutes.

Or maybe it didn't mean anything at all and Rosalie was just desperate after months of her emotions being a mess.

The door opened and closed. Bella waved the jacket she'd brought "just in case" as she walked and talked. "Victoria is terrifying. I think I'd let her kill me. And like, thank her."

Her eyebrow twitched, but she let it go. "So, what I think you're actually supposed to say is something along the lines of 'If you're unhappy, you can talk to me.'"

Bella shrugged, finally making it to their bench.

"What are you—No—I—Bella, why—"

She slapped at Rosalie's hands even as Rosalie did the same to her and leaned away. She stopped trying to put her jacket over Rosalie's shoulders. Once Rosalie exhaled, irritated, and looked away, Bella rushed to throw it over her shoulders. "There. Damn. You're so difficult."

Rosalie adjusted the jacket, eyeing Bella as she dropped down onto the bench. "Bella, I'm a vampire."

"Yeah, well, Charlie raised me better than that." She rubbed the back of her neck, huffing.

"If you hate my dress that much, you only had to say so."

"What!" Bella whipped around to look at her so fast her neck cracked. She waved her hands in front of her as her eyebrows rose above her sunglasses. "That's not what I'm saying, I'm saying it's cold outside! The dress is great, beautiful. Beautiful on you. Not that you need it to be beautiful! You redefine the word. Not 'redefine' like in a bad way, but. Well maybe you don't and you just personify it or something. But I'm serious, your hair looks great and that's such a nice blue and the style is nice, whatever it is. I don't speak dress. I don't know what it is when it's like, just one strap off the shoulder and it's got that triangle that shows some of your chest? Alice probably told me but I'm an idiot. And that slit up the side? Oh shit, but I don't ogle you, I don't want you to think that. I just. Oh my god you were joking. That was a joke."

Rosalie kept a hand over one of the most genuine smiles she'd felt on her face in a long time.

Bella shot to her feet. She got halfway to the door before she spun around and strode back, all of her movements jerky. She pointed down as if to accent what she planned to say. "I like that your eyes shift color so much with your emotions instead of just being bright-ass gold all the time because it makes me feel less like a freak."

Capturing the back of Bella's silver vest before she could flee, Rosalie swallowed back a purr. She'd never even thought about it before. But now she wondered if it was one of the reasons Bella went out of her way to bother her so much.

Bella sat back down when her vest was tugged, though she resolutely stared forward.

It was interesting. Victoria had made Bella sputter more than once, but Rosalie never saw an actual blush on her face until tonight. So maybe Bella did…feel something for her. Rosalie's brow furrowed at a thought. If it wasn't for the fact she was a married woman, you could almost say Bella had been courting her in a weird, annoying way.

Suddenly her mood soured as she thought about Emmett. She'd have to take care of that issue soon, if he didn't beat her to it. Or if he hadn't already reached that conclusion.

Possible, considering he hadn't come outside after her in all this time.

Rosalie pulled Bella's jacket tighter against herself and sighed. She couldn't be more than Bella's friend. Emmett loved his Boo far too much and Bella was certainly fond of him.

"Do you like the ocean?"

She glanced at the girl, who seemed a little less stiff. "I do."

"I want to drown in it. Not, like, in a suicidal way, but, I don't know. It's just so vast and infinite. It's the closest I can get to space. It could consume me and I'd cease to exist in something bigger and darker than we could ever hope to be. How much do you like it?"

"I did something like that once, actually. In the eighties." Rosalie smirked when Bella looked at her. "I just kind of went in and eventually let it take me where it wanted."

Bella turned completely, crossing a leg up on the bench and over her knee. "You know you _have_ to tell me about that now, right?"

"Hmm, I don't think I will."

"I don't deserve this cruelty. I'm telling Esme."

Amber eyes rolled. "Go ahead. I'll cite all the times you've bothered me."

"My acts of friendship can't be used against me!"

" _Friendship_?"

"You pushed me out of a truck, remember?"

"You called me 'wifey.' I don't know what you expected."

Bella tilted her head as she subtly rocked back and forth with a hum. "That's fair."

"Ah, so you know you're a villain."

"Villain? That's going a little far, don't you think? Or maybe not far enough. How does 'enemies to wifey' sound?"

"Like I'm going to push Buggy off a cliff."

"You wouldn't!"

Rosalie laughed at the horror on her face.

It was brief, and only happened once, but Bella's heart stuttered.

And then Rosalie told her about when she let the ocean take her. How it felt, where she went. The incident of a man thinking she was a siren meaning to overturn his boat and drag him to the dark depths.

As Bella gave her undivided attention, bouncing in her attempt to limit her interruptions or exclamations, Rosalie reached a conclusion.

Yes, she would cause ripples in the family, and maybe even a rift or two.

Rosalie Hale was a selfish bitch, after all.

* * *

 **A/N:** Yeah I have a serious thing about Rosalie spending some time acting like a siren and that isn't changing.

You like that parallel of Bella identifying with Rose because Rose's eyes are always flying through colors? I do. I love it.

God damn I hope you guys like this mess. Remember to drop all complaints to Paige at her tumblr, thirteenohtoo, and praise at mine, which is my username. Kidding, kidding lol


	2. You Found Me Drifted Out To Sea

**A/N:** Updating early for Anon. Er, I mean, for Anon's friend.

Fun fact: Lauren is actually Bella's friend ever since that awkward fucker literally snatched her and dragged her into her car to avoid a conversation.

Also, I love Victoria. And nah, I won't mess up Em too bad.

Esme and Carlisle. Rosalie. Emmett. Jasper and Victoria. Edward. Alice. Wensley and Jessica.

* * *

"I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,  
In secret, between the shadow and the soul."  
-Pablo Neruda

A small spark of surprise lurked within Rosalie about the fact the door of the building hadn't caught fire from her glaring at it for almost an hour. She ground her teeth. She didn't know what she was doing here. Yet every time she considered leaving, she didn't move. Rosalie didn't know where she could go anyway. Hell, she'd meant to just drive and drive and drive, but instead she sat in her car, glaring at this door that needed new paint.

A red truck pulled into the driveway beside her. She looked over, or maybe glared over, but Bella didn't seem to notice she was there. Her brow furrowed. Bella was wet, a thin layer of ice on some sections of her shirt, and she grabbed the large blanket she'd been sitting on as she hopped out the truck.

The truck beeped as she locked it and entered her house.

She left the door open.

A full minute passed before Rosalie went in. She walked toward the noise of Bella's heart and the washing machine. "My apologies," she said, though she didn't leave or look away.

Clad in her bra and a pair of boxers, Bella shoved her wet hair out of the way of her shades and shrugged. "I clearly invited you in." She walked past Rosalie and called over her shoulder, "I'm freezing my ass off, so give me like ten minutes. Pick a movie."

Rosalie blinked. Annoying antics, she could predict and understand. But this was new and she'd hardly recovered from the first time. It'd been so easy to talk to Bella at the dance that she hadn't noticed the passing of two hours. She had noticed, however, the faces of Alice, Victoria, and Jessica. And Emmett.

With a sigh, she went about picking a movie. She sat at the end of the couch, propping her cheek on her fist as the title screen went through its looped music over and over. Her mind had drifted by the time the shower stopped upstairs, and her mood was somehow worse than when she'd been sitting in her car.

"What troubles you, dear wifey?" Bella's stride didn't stutter at the sharp gaze thrown her way. She scooped up the remote and dropped herself onto the other end of the couch, kicking her shoes up on the table as she hit Play. "Resident Evil, nice. You wanna yell at me or actually watch it?"

Rosalie didn't say anything during the opening ten minutes. "Why were you all wet?"

"Couldn't stop thinking about the sea since we talked about it. Even dreamed about it once. Jake's hot all the time so I asked him to go cliff-jumping with me." Bella tapped the remote against her knee with a slow exhale. "Big bastard beat me."

"Ignoring the fact you decided jumping into the ocean during winter was a good idea, what do you mean?"

"I mean, two out of three, he jumped farther than me. But only because he pushed me the second time!"

A blonde eyebrow arched at the way Bella halfway turned to her as if imploring her to believe her. "How dare he rob you that way?"

"Exactly." Bella slammed the remote down on her thigh. "Cheating bastard and his marshmallows."

Rosalie's brow furrowed and she decided to focus on the gunfight on the screen instead of wander down that rabbithole featuring marshmallows.

After a while, Bella sighed. "So that's why I'm pissy. Why are you pissy?"

"I am not 'pissy.' And you are aware Esme would have a fit if you gave yourself pneumonia, right?"

"I've never been sick. Momma C doesn't have to worry," Bella mumbled.

"Well, whatever you are, I'm certain it would still significantly injure you if you impaled yourself on a rock. Provided you are entirely yourself at the time and not leeching someone's characteristics."

Light from the lamp shined on Bella's shades as she glanced over. "Was that a joke?"

"Perhaps."

"Subtle. Clever. So." Yet another person died onscreen. "Does it worry you? Whatever I am?"

"No." The room grew distant for Rosalie, and the air of the dark forest began to surround her. Moonlight and something like silence. Dread came with it instead of peace. She blinked. She was sitting on a beat up couch again. "What concerns me is you wandering off, looking to die."

"Look, I don't intentionally say, 'hey, come get me' at whatever is going to kill me, okay?"

The knuckles of Rosalie's fist grew paler. "Why must you say it with such certainty?"

A slow, tired sigh. "Well—" There was an almost violent series of chimes and rings from Bella's phone as she got a string of text messages. "Well death is kind of inevitable, you know?"

Rosalie glanced at Bella's pocket as her phone went off yet again, and then up at Bella herself. "Are you going to get that?"

"Not in the mood."

"With a dozen texts, it could be important, or something close."

"Nope," she said the word a little harshly. "Just Leah. Betting she's saying shit about me going with Jake instead of her."

Rosalie drummed her fingers on the arm of the couch. "Are you two…?"

"Oh god no. I don't even know what she wants from me. Even then, Jake is stupid about her." Another text, but it was solitary and had a sense of finality.

"Do you mean he's crazy about her, perhaps?"

"No, I mean he's stupid. Pushed me over the side of the couch so she could sit next to him, the bastard. 'Oh! H-Hey, Leah! Bella was just getting up ha _ha_!' Makes me sick."

"That sounds horrifying."

"Yeah, so how many times are you gonna…gonna deflect?" Bella was rubbing one of her temples.

Rosalie clenched and unclenched her jaw. "You said we are friends, no? Can I not visit?"

A shaky laugh burst out of Bella.

Her eyes flicked between Bella and the TV as she heard the pumping of Bella's heart speed up. The girl covered her eyes even though she had her shades on. "Are you alright?"

Bella sucked in a deep breath. "You sh-should go."

"Not if you're not okay," Rosalie muttered, moving to Bella's side of the couch. "One of your headaches?"

She slapped away Rosalie's hand with too much force. " _Please_." One hand fisted in her hair and the other pressed tightly to her face, pushing her glasses askew.

Agony clutched at her heart as something bitter rose in her throat. Rosalie watched Bella curl up against the arm of the couch. She was more so panting than breathing.

"Pl…ease. _Just go—oo_." A whimper had distorted her last word.

Rosalie darted around the living room, turning off anything that created light. Determination set her jaw. She sat and pulled Bella onto her lap, feeling sick at both how little fight Bella had and her inability to form words. Rosalie removed her shades and tossed them onto the table. The fact Bella's eyes were squeezed tight like it could ward off pain didn't surprise her, but it did send a pang through her. Murmuring, she pressed her hand to Bella's forehead, "Emmett said the cold helps."

And it did. Bella's grip on her hair eased up, even if it was only a little. Minutes went by. Arm around Bella, keeping her curled form pressed against herself—secure in her lap—and a hand on a hot forehead, Rosalie wouldn't have been able to do this for more than a moment as a human. Bella's panting transitioned to shallow breaths as half an hour went by.

After an hour, Bella had fallen asleep or simply passed out, but Rosalie lingered. She didn't realize she'd been rubbing her thumb along Bella's hairline until she stopped. Eventually, she moved, depositing Bella onto the couch.

She left.

* * *

"What'd she say to you this time?"

Bella's eyebrow twitched, but she kept her face neutral. She caught the ball Emmett threw and tossed it back. She'd expected Alice to be the first to bring up her kind of not interacting with Rosalie or engaging with bothersome antics…Avoiding Rosalie. Realistically, that was what she'd been doing the past two weeks. Since distant, perpetually-annoyed Rosalie Hale took care of her.

Emmett sighed. "It's okay, Boo." He jerked his head toward the house as he pitched the ball. "We've all been wondering. She's not home."

As if to punctuate the normalcy of it all, Esme stuck her head out the back door to ask if she was hungry.

Bella found the courage to address a topic that'd been in the air for a while and coughed. "So, you doing okay, bro?"

The ball burst in his hand. Face unnaturally plain for his character, he reached into the bag beside him for a new ball to play catch with. The words left him quietly, weakly, "Our divorce was finalized a few days ago."

"What?"

"Our _divorce_ was _finalized_ a few days ago."

Bella's mouth fell open and her arms dangled at her sides. But even if she wasn't shocked and instead paid full attention, Emmett threw the ball too hard.

"Shit, Boo!"

The ball rocketed off her face and she stumbled backward, fixing her shades and holding her mouth.

"I'm so sorry. Shit. Let me see. Talk to me, Boo."

World spinning, Bella tried to wave him away, but she wound up swatting at the duplicate of him she saw instead. Still, he tentatively pulled on her hand and his eyes darted between her and someone approaching. Emmett settled on steadying her against his side so she'd stop teetering around, an anxious look on his face.

Edward got there before Alice and Esme. He quickly replaced Bella's hand with an icepack. "Will this suffice or do you need something else?"

"You gonna kiss it better?" She winked before realizing he couldn't see it.

Alice rubbed her hand up and down Bella's arm. "Obviously I'm cuter so it should be me."

" _I am cute enough, I believe_."

Esme rolled her eyes. "Bella, dear, are you alright?"

"Fine. I winked."

Emmett looked down at her. "What?"

"Am I cute?"

While Esme, exasperation on her face, tousled Edward's hair, Alice cocked her head. "You don't sound right."

"Speech is pain," Bella mumbled after she finally freed the icepack from Edward's fingers and held it herself.

"Let me see, dear."

Bella pushed off of Emmett and managed to stand on her own without swaying. She gave a thumbs up and started for the house.

Except Esme got in her path. Arms crossed, she was staring down at Bella, who looked for help. But Emmett, Edward, and then Alice all looked away. "Show. Me."

"Momma C," Bella whined, kicking at some snow. "I don't wanna. My vanity has been injured. You can't see my face like this."

Esme squinted, but she let her go.

Victoria swept into the living room the moment Bella entered, cooing as she pulled Bella onto a loveseat with her. "Your poor, beautiful face."

"I know!"

Jessica popped up and clicked her tongue as she dropped onto a couch and thumbed through TV channels. "Boys will be boys."

"I'm not sure what to take from that," Bella mumbled against her icepack.

Jessica threw her a satisfied smile.

"You know," Victoria drawled as she wrapped an arm around Bella and pulled her into her side, "You'd be dead if you weren't our little mystery."

"It was an accident!" Emmett shouted from somewhere. He arrived a moment later, shifting from foot to foot as he rubbed the back of his neck. "You know that, don't you, Boo?"

"'Course, Em." She held out her fist and he bumped it, but he didn't look relieved. "You wanna go to your room and talk about stuff? Well, you talk, I nod."

"It's okay, I've done enough damage," he muttered, leaving.

"Emme—"

"Shh, my little dove. You need to give your beautiful face some time to recover." Victoria ran her fingers through Bella's hair.

"Oh, give him his buddy, Vicky." Jessica smirked at the soft growl directed at her.

Bella shifted a little away from her, but Victoria fixed a pout on her. "But who will keep me warm if you leave?"

"Maybe your husband," Jessica said under her breath.

That fateful bottom lip jutted out and Bella tore her gaze away. She grunted, pointing toward the stairs.

"Oh, fine. I'll remember this slight." Victoria released her and crossed her arms.

Getting up, Bella gave her thigh a single pat.

Emmett took a while to start talking after Bella settled down on the floor of his room with him. She'd looked around, noting the clear lack of anything signifying Rosalie's presence, and absently wondered what room had become hers.

Bella nodded along at the appropriate times. But after ten minutes, she realized this talk was a mistake.

"She's amazing, but so, so difficult, you know? And we butted heads a lot, but we were there for each other. I know we're not mates, but does she have to be so…so damn. So damn _difficult_? I know she needs things, but I need things too…"

Her ears rang. Her throat felt dry. When Alice spun into the room with a new icepack, she hoped the pixie would stay, but she didn't.

Bella's nods were a lot slower.

* * *

Bella closed her locker and something in her peripherals sent a wave of panic through her, kick-starting her flight instinct. Hand to her mouth, her eyes darted around, but in the hallway of students rushing to get home, an exit seemed far. And a storm filled Rosalie Hale's eyes as she strode down the hall.

Still, Bella was sometimes a coward. So she pretended not to notice and threw herself to the crowd in an attempt to be swept to the doors where she could maybe make a run for her truck.

Freedom close, hope rose in her chest. She linked arms with Lauren as she got out the doors and into the dreary light of Forks. She knew she was mostly dragging the girl as opposed to walking with her, but you kept your trump cards close.

"Please tell me you're just murdering me instead of taking me somewhere. This new truck is nice, but I actually like your old ass Camaro better."

"Buggy has a name," she huffed. "But I miss Buggy too."

A tired expression stayed on Lauren's face as she waved at Mike, who was just shaking his head at the sight of them. "When are the repairs going to be done? Asking that orange soda stain on the roof about my future is a very important part of my day and I'm lost without it."

"Honestly, I haven't asked." Bella looked over her shoulder and while it should've been comforting, not seeing Rosalie anywhere made her even more anxious.

Green eyes slid to the hand covering her friend's mouth for the hundredth time that day, but after asking twice, she knew she wasn't getting an answer about it so she just waited for a slip up. "How do you not ask? Do you even know how much the estimate is?"

"Uh. Well. It. I'll find out today, okay? Er, maybe tomorrow."

"Only you could be facing a gigantic bill and not think to ask what it would be until over a month later."

"Yeah, well, fuck you, Lauren."

"I'm shaking with tears because of that—Christ!" She jerked back at the sight of Rosalie Hale suddenly in front of them with black eyes solely focused on her friend. "Gotta go, see ya." After Bella's hold on her tightened, she punched her arm and ran from the storm glaring down at them.

"Coward," Bella mumbled even as she avoided eye contact and edged back and kept a hand over her mouth.

But Rosalie grabbed her arm and might as well have carried her to the truck for how fast she walked, leaving Bella stumbling and cursing the students giving them a wide berth.

"Rosalie—"

A quiet hiss reached Bella's ears.

It was a law of nature that Rosalie could ignore and avoid you, but you did not ignore or avoid Rosalie Hale. Well, not if you wanted to live.

And Bella had done both.

They came to a stop at the borrowed truck and Bella moved her head around to adjust her shades since one of her arms was trapped in a vise grip and her free hand was covering her mouth. She cleared her throat and caught a glance of the glare aimed at her. Nope. "Hey there—Uh—Hey there, wifey?"

Damn, was she trying to die?

"You have five seconds to answer me."

Taking half a step back got Rosalie to release her arm, but it didn't eliminate the quiet, continuous hiss coming from her or the anger radiating across the small space between them. The intensity of Rosalie Hale had the hair on the back of her neck standing up, but she couldn't move away any farther. Couldn't complete the thought or send the signal to her muscles to do it. "You didn't ask anything."

The storm closing in on her constricted her lungs.

Bella's eyes darted to the truck and she fiddled for her keys. "Tell you as we drive?"

Settling into the cab with only one hand and a glare scrutinizing her every breath was nothing short of awkward. It was slow driving, leaving the lot, as students milled around or took too damn long to exit onto the street, but it wasn't nearly as slow as Bella's dry swallowing while they got to the first stop sign. She was forgetting to breathe by the third stoplight.

Rosalie inhaled.

Eyes fixed on the road, Bella dropped her hand.

The steady hiss twisted into a growl that vibrated even within Bella's chest.

"It's not so bad," Bella muttered, patting her busted lip. "Lot better than yesterday. Tomorrow it might be—"

"Again with that fucking dog?"

The sound of the door handle snapping off in Rosalie's hand had her wincing. "Uh, well—"

"It was so bad yesterday you didn't come to school? So bad everyone kept this from me? The _looks_ I've gotten! I should've realized you managed to find trouble. Of course. But when does someone get to make that mutt look like that? Better yet, when do _I_ get to do it?"

"It wasn't Jake."

"What did you say?"

Bella adjusted her sunglasses. Bounced her palms against her thighs as she silently pleaded the stoplight to turn green. Even though the vampire could hear her perfectly well, Bella mumbled again, "It wasn't Jake."

"Which dog was it?"

Throwing herself from the vehicle seemed viable. Except for the fact it wouldn't kill her at this speed.

Rosalie more so growled than spoke, "Well?"

"It was an accident. We were doing a nice, safe activity and _Em threw the ball really fucking hard_." She caught sight of the fury in black eyes and focused on driving up her street and ignoring the fact the door handle shattered in Rosalie's grip and just parked in her driveway. There was a slow, strange sound under Rosalie's growl and Bella had to convince herself to look over.

Rosalie was clenching her fists so tightly some small cracks had formed.

In a moment of rare instinct, or perhaps pure stupidity, Bella placed her hand over Rosalie's. She swallowed and ran her thumb across cold knuckles. The back of her mind noted she should probably repaint the garage as she stared at its large, peeling door. "Are you okay?"

"I can't believe that idiot was so careless," came out through clenched teeth.

It was incredibly strange. Surreal. Rosalie Hale had indirectly threatened her life, watched her faceplant off of buildings, pushed her off a balcony and out of a moving vehicle. Literally thrown her through the air.

But a busted lip had her _murderous_.

It occurred to Bella that Rosalie was withdrawing from her, both physically and...in every other way possible. She retracted her hand and watched in her peripherals as the vampire tried to contain herself, resulting in her being pressed against her door—not that Bella would dare to comment on it—and wearing a scary expression between indifference and violence. More cracks formed in the hands she held tightly in her lap.

She didn't try twice about these things, and yet. "I meant...about the," she coughed and cozied up against her own door, pretending to look at the snow as the words scarcely left her lips, "About the divorce."

The slam of Rosalie's door rocked the truck.

* * *

 **A/N:** Look out, Rose, your emotional investment is showing.

Something crazy and unprecedented is that I basically have this story mapped and the 18 chapters named, though I guess it could inflate to about 20 chapters. Crazy, right? And yes, before you can ask or notice, literally all the chapter titles are thanks to Starset except for two (2) of them.

Anyway, I'm happy to see the so far positive response to this story that's literally because I _need_ Bella to look at Rose with the color of love in her eyes. That's it. That's why this is happening. For a five second moment.


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